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Baelor I Targaryen
King Baelor I Targaryen '''was a member of the House Targaryen and the second king of Westeros. Following the untimely death of his father, Aegon I Targaryen, the young child of 10 assumed the throne under the regency of the small council that Aegon left behind. Baelor faced a great many challenges in his time as king, including an uprising of Faith Militant and a series of deadly plagues that nearly wiped out his entire house. Moreover, the Targaryen king was insane and spent almost all of his reign behind the scenes raising hell while his regent, Loren Lannister, sat the Iron Throne in his place. Because of his mental state, he was known across Westeros as '''The Mad King Baelor. Baelor faced a great many difficulties in his time on the Throne, ranging from a massive war for power between vassals and a deadly plague known as the Great Sickness that nearly caused a succession crisis. Biography Early Life Baelor was born not long after Aegon's conquest began. Shortly after taking the Stormlands, Aegon's sister-wife Rhaenys gave birth to him. Because of primogeniture succession laws, the young boy would one day inherit his father's throne. Baelor was raised mostly by Aegon's sister-wives Rhaenys and Visenya, though Aegon himself did play a small role when he wasn't conquering Westeros. From a young age, it was clear that the boy was not normal. He was shy and craven unlike his father (and most of the Targaryen men for that matter) and took great pleasure in the suffering of others and, on occasion, himself. Aegon insisted that the boy be sent away to his close friend and Hand of the King Loren Lannister. Baelor spent the rest of his childhood at Casterly Rock, though it did him little good. If anything, the boy grew to be more insane as time passed. Thus, the realm was in for more than a few shocks after Aegon was killed in a trial by combat from a lowly Ironborn lord. The late-king's small council convened to determine who would succeed Aegon. They argued and debated the subject for quite some time, but eventually agreed to allow Baelor to succeed his father due to the insistence of Loren, the realm's most powerful and feared living lord. Early Reign Upon taking the throne, the Targaryen heir proved to be what everyone feared: a walking, talking disaster. He could not conduct himself in a kingly manner and spent more time chasing cats in Flea Bottom than he did in the throne room. No one could figure out the method to Baelor's madness, but thankfully the lunatic of a king was mostly harmless. In fact, the king did accomplish much in his time on the throne. Though he did attempt to pass the Turnip Act, which would have made the vegetable of the same name Westeros' official currency, Baelor managed to finish the Kingsroad project his father had started and build a massive network of refuges, hospitals and homeless shelters across the land. One major problem arose before the king even received his crown. Much like his father, Baelor expected some kind of coronation from the High Septon so that he could be officially recognized as the king on the Iron Throne. The Septon outright refused the notion, claiming that Baelor was an abomination of incest who had no right to a crown. Baelor declared the High Septon a traitor to the realm, a bold move considering how important the Faith is in Westeros. Many of the Lords Paramount disapproved of this, but Baelor had his garrison, which came to be known as the "Gold Cloaks," to arrest the Septon and bring him to the throne room. In a fit of rage, Baelor demanded the Septon's head before Loren intervened and convinced him to spare the head of the Faith. Instead, the king insisted that the High Septon be paraded through the streets naked with chicken feathers glued to him while flapping his arms as if they were wings. Though this outraged more than a few followers of the Faith, the Septon reluctantly agreed in order to save his life. Baelor would be crowned later, but his own insanity eventually got the better of him. Lord Paramount Loren eventually saw an opportunity to take the throne for House Lannister and convinced the council with little difficulty that the king was unfit to rule. The council then attempted to take control of the throne with Loren in command for a number of reasons. Loren had his own personal ambitions, but the rest of the lords were outraged that Baelor had almost killed the High Septon. The transition of power was difficult, however; Baelor believed he was the one true king and that only he could sit on the Iron Throne. He ordered his kingsguard to kill anyone who attempted to climb the steps before Loren himself, surrounded by his own personal guard, ascended the stairs. The king and his hand stared each other down before an entire host of Lannister men-at-arms entered the throne room, followed by several gold cloaks (which had been paid off by Loren). This show of strength convinced even the mad king to step down, and Loren finally sat on the iron chair. The Dornish-Westerlander War Though Baelor remained king in title, he had no true power within the realm. Loren Lannister was the true ruler of Westeros. Though most of the Lords Paramount did not attempt to get in his way, one in particular would not stand for it. The Prince of Dorne, Gulian Martell, cited undying loyalty to House Targaryen and demanded that Loren step down and allow Baelor to take his rightful place. Moreover, the Dornish Prince claimed the Westerlands as his own, citing a claim passed down to him from Loren's brother, who married the former Princess of Dorne and gave birth to him. Though the claim was shaky, Dorne possessed the men it would take to topple the Lannisters and declared open war on Loren. The war ultimately ended in favor of Dorne. Loren died of poor health, leaving his less-than-capable son Lyman in charge. Lyman, a craven by all accounts, quickly submitted and handed over the Westerlands to Prince Gulian. Owning not one but two of the Seven Kingdoms made the Dornish Prince the most powerful man in the realm, at least in terms of manpower. Thankfully for King Baelor, however, Dorne remained loyal to the crown and did not attempt to use their new power to usurp it due to a marriage between Baelor and Gulian's daughter Tyene. This was a troubling prospect for the Targaryens nonetheless. The Great Sickness Baelor's reign was hampered by multiple plagues that swept across the land. The first was the Grey Plague, which supposedly originated from the Free Cities of Essos. This hit King's Landing hard, though the massive hospital that Baelor had ordered to be built saved many lives. Unfortunately, however, many members of his family were hit, including his brother and heir Rhaekar Targaryen. At this point, the only heir Baelor left was Rhaenys, who died long ago in what was presumed to be an assassination. His only heirs, therefore, were his siblings, but only one was left standing. Vaemond died after being mutilated in battle, Valaena fell to Greyscale, and Aerion eventually died of poor health. This left a potential succession crisis when it was realized that only two living Targaryen's remained. None of Baelor's brothers left any heirs except Aerion, and even then there was only one (a boy named Baelor who was not a pure-blooded Targaryen due to Aerion marrying outside the family). Baelor, in his state of lunacy, was hardly concerned, but the small council began to panic. If the heir somehow fell, the Targaryen line would end with the current king and a war of succession would surely destroy the land. Matters were worsened when the Great Sickness (as the maesters refer to it) arrived. Originating mysteriously in Blackwater Bay, the great plague quickly consumed the lands of Westeros. It was declared incurable and often killed its victims within a matter of days. Baelor demanded that the gates to King's Landing and the Red Keep be closed, and thus thousands of refugees were denied entrance to the city. Moreover, he and his court lived in seclusion. For several years, the plague raged on. It killed hundreds of thousands of innocents in its path and left many provinces without an heir and houses wiped out. It eventually reached the Red Keep as well. Many members of Baelor's court suffered, including his wife. Eventually Baelor himself fell ill, though the Grand Maester declared that it was not in fact the plague, but rather the early stages of it. With Baelor I dead, Baelor II, a boy of only 13, ascended to the throne. The king's nephew now wore the crown and remained the last living Targaryen. Category:House Targaryen Category:Alive Category:Male Category:Characters